Love is a many-splendored thing, especially when you’re gawking at it from the outside. In this new column, we’ll be examining the celebrity couples that give us hope for our own romantic futures, and trying to learn what we can from their well-documented bonds.
It’s awards season yet again, which means a long and predictable parade of Hollywood couples making their way down various red carpets, hand in hand and with enormous shiny white teeth bared in matching grins. Their outfits will be impeccable; their hair will be perfectly styled; every aspect of their public personas will seem to emanate an air of “Look how much better adjusted and more in love we are than you.” There are some exceptions to this formula, of course, but none of them are more powerful than the pairing of Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher.
Borat star Cohen wed Wedding Crashers star Fisher in 2010, and seeing as he’s nominated in both writing and acting categories at this year’s Academy Awards for his work on Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm and The Trial of the Chicago 7, we’re sure to see the pair on the industry’s biggest night; and to be honest, it might be the aspect of the Oscars that I’m most excited about. The couple has three children together, yet they have an uncanny ability to make every public appearance look like their third date. It always seems like they’re genuinely having fun together—remember how delighted Fisher was by her husband’s speech at the Golden Globes? And within L.A.’s surface-y, often fickle love culture, that’s rare enough to feel goals-worthy.
Fun isn’t the only thing that bonds Cohen and Fisher; she converted to Judaism for him before they married, saying, “I will definitely have a Jewish wedding just to be with Sacha. I would do anything—move into any religion—to be united in marriage with him. We have a future together and religion comes second to love as far as we are concerned.” Okay, I know actors are uniquely gifted at sounding convincing when they say things, but…I’m tearing up over here!
For his part, Cohen is no less devoted to Fisher, but it sounds like he’s the wilder card in the marriage. “If there’s anything dangerous that I’m going to do, I just don’t tell her until it’s over,” he told The New York Times in 2020. From some guys, this would sound very “ha ha, don’t tell my wife,” but from Cohen, it just sounds sweet and considerate.
In the same interview, Cohen described first meeting Fisher. “She was hilarious,” he recalled. “We were at a very pretentious party, and me and her bonded over taking the mick out of the other people in the party. I knew instantly. I don’t know if she did.” This dovetails nicely with a theory that actor, writer, and director Mindy Kaling learned from her grandmother: “The best relationships are the ones where the guy likes the girl a little bit more than the girl likes the guy.” Heteronormative? Sure, but it kind of holds water, and it’s nice to think of Cohen being so besotted with Fisher.
One of the best aspects of Cohen and Fisher’s relationship (from the outside, at least) is the premium they place on privacy. We just don’t know all that much about them as a couple, apart from the fact that they’re parents who currently live in Sydney and presumably have to deal with many of the same scheduling issues that any busy working couple with kids does. Recently, Fisher admitted that she hasn’t kept up with Cohen’s provocateur ways on the Borat set, saying, “I find out what’s happened afterward, and that’s how I can sleep at night; otherwise I’d be too worried.” She’s probably joking to some degree, but really…how refreshing is that, particularly at a time when couples seem so obsessed with uploading pictures of their every joint hike and dinner out to Instagram?
No offense to the many other Oscar-nominated performers this year, all of whom deserve acclaim, but even though I’m decidedly not a Sorkin fan, part of me is hoping Cohen wins big on Sunday—mostly to see him thank Fisher in his acceptance speech, and to hear what kind of COVID-safe celebration they get up to. Thank you, Sacha and Isla, for letting me believe that love is real…or at least really fun to observe.